No need to draw this question out. Many of us are still enjoying the final weekend of May, so let’s cut to the chase and talk about our best birds. Deal?
My best bird this weekend was an Eastern Wood-Pewee calling from a bare branch. When it comes to New World flycatchers, empids tend to irritate me for the same reasons they irritate everyone, but species in the genus Contopus make me much happier for inexplicable reasons. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a surprise American Golden-Plover at Big Egg Marsh in Queens, a very good bird for the east coast in spring, as they tend to migrate north through the center of North America.
How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.
I saw five baby Red-breasted Nuthatches at a friend’s bird feeder, feeding for the first time at the suet. I wasn’t even sure they were nuthatches at first. They were absolutely adorable little fluffy babies!
I id’ed a Rose-breasted Grosbeak by the sneaker call for the first time, so that was pretty cool. But my favorite birds were the Barn Swallows, Chimney Swifts, and even Double-crested Cormorants that kept me smiling and inspired running down Lake Shore Drive and back on Saturday. #SoldierField10Miler
I got to see and photograph the Varied Bunting at Bentsen State Park,in Mission TX. It took a lot of patience and a LOT of bug spray but it was worth it.
A lifer Spotted Flycatcher in Colmberg, Germany.
Big weekend; added 70 birds to my year list and four lifers, including the Musk Lorikeet, Double-banded Finch, Olive-backed Oriole and Australian Hobby. Also two kinds of eagle and some unidentified albatrosses. But the highlight of the weekend was a Superb Lyrebird, singing!
The mystery bird from last week came back, and this time, I got a good, clear look at it. It was a peregrine falcon. I had never seen one before, so I was pleased. Then, a pair of gulls came and had sex on my balcony, and on the roof next to mine, which was far less pleasant. Gulls are definitely the worst birds.
My first Dickcissel in the Trinity River bottoms, Dallas, TX. I also saw an Eastern Wood-Pewee. I think.
I’ve been away at a bird observatory monitoring migration but now back in Southern Ontario. Yesterday I admired a couple of sort-of-closely-related flycatchers: A Great-crested Flycatcher and an Eastern Kingbird. Birds with attitude; Love ’em both.
More on them and other stuff at http://www.mybirdoftheday.ca
Forbes State Forest , Lynn Run Park in western PA. Saw male and female American Redstarts, Black and White warbler, male and female Chestnut sided Warblers, and new to my list, a Black-throated Blue warbler!
The best bird this past weekend was a Northern Bobwhite seen by my granddaughters in Illinois after I had returned home to Florida. I let the nine year old tell about it in her own words in an addendum to my current blog.
I would have to give it to the American Three-toed Woodpecker I saw at Lockett Meadow near Flagstaff, Arizona.